Apparatus for producing copies



Oct. 13, 1964 w. LlMBERGER APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COPIES Original Filed May 11, 1960 INVENYOP.

United States Patent 8 Claims. a. 95-715 This application is a division of my pending application Ser. No. 28, 336, filed May 11, 1960, now Patent No. 3,110,490.

The invention relates to an apparatus for producing copies, comprising an exposure device and a developing device arranged within a housing and having between them a transporting means. With the transporting means a separating device for discharge of the original and a supply device for admission of a copy sheet are associated.

In apparatus of this kind the original together with a negative layer carrier areguided through the exposure device, and beyond said exposure device the original is deflected and a positive layer carrier is joined with the negative layer carrier. Said two layer carriers are then passed together through the developing device.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type indicated having novel and improved means for supplying of individual positive layer carriers.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind indicated which is provided with a magazine in which individual positive layer carriers are stored for successive transfer to the developing device.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type indicated in which a positive layer carrier is automatically supplied in coordination with the progress of the negative layer carrier through the apparatus.

Still another obejct of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind indicated provided with a magazine for positive layer carriers which can readily be filled without disassembling or opening the apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind indicated in which the magazine for positive layer carriers includes conveyor means for separately supporting the positive layer carriers side by side, said conveyor means being operatively connected with abutment means in the path of the negative layer carriers for intermittent actuation of said conveyor means by engagement of one of said negative layer carriers with said abutment means. Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind indicated in which said conveyor means comprises an endless belt provided with notches for receiving and supporting the positive layer carrier separately.

An embodiment of the invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal vertical section of the apparatus with several elements omitted which are not essential for an understanding of the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a similar section of a detail on an enlarged scale.

The apparatus comprises a housing 1 with a feed slot 3 for an original and a negative layer carrier provided in the lower portion of a front wall 2. Behind the front Wall 2 an exposure device is disposed which comprises a transparent cylinder 5 surrounding a light source 4 and one or more endless feedbelts 6 guided over rollers 7, 8, 9 and trained around the cylinder 5.

3,152,532 Patented Oct. 13, 1964 A guide path 3 leading from the slot 3 to the roller 8 guides the original and the negative layer carrier into the nip between the roller 8 and the cylinder 5. An outlet slot 11 for the negative and the positive layer carrier is provided in the rear wall 10 of the housing.

In front of the outlet slot 11 and within the housing 1 a developing device is disposed which in the illustrated embodiment is of the diifusion developing type and comprises a bath container 12, a pair of transporting and squeezing rollers 13, and a pair of guiding and transporting rollers 14. Above the bath container 12 a supply container 15 for developing liquid is disposed. The bottom of this container 15 forms an upper guide surface through the bath.

The positive and negative layer carriers. are separately guided through the developing bath by a guide element 16. This guide element may be perforated. Preferably, the guide element 16 extends from the inlet side of the bath container 12 at an inclination downwardly into the developing bath within which it is substantially parallel to the liquid level and then curved upwardly, as shown. The guide element 16 is provided withan opening 17 in which the guiding and transporting rollers 14 are in engagement with each other. Said guiding and transporting rollers 14 are driven by suitable means, not shown. The opening 17 need not necessarily be continuous over the entire width of the hollers 14 but could consist of a plurality of parallel slots through which diametrically enlarged portions of the rollers 14 extend to provide the engagement between the rollers.

A guide member 18 extends from the pair of guiding and transporting rollers 14 to the exposure device and said guide member 18 is in the present embodiment an extension of the upwardly inclined inlet side of the bath container 12 and serves to guide the negative layer carrier. Onto said guide member 18 the original and the negative layer carrier coming from the exposure device are advanced with the negative layer carrier directly on the guide member 18 and the original on top of said negative layer carrier.

Above the guide member 18 there is disposed a separation roller 19 rotatably mounted at the end of a lever 22 which is pivotally connected at 21 with the housing 1. A drive motor 20 for said separation roller 19 is also mounted on the lever 22 which is biased upwardly by means of a spring 23 having one end secured to the lever 22 and the other end secured to the housing 1. The range of pivotal movement of the lever 22 is limited downwardly by an adjustable stop member 55 and upwardly by an abutment means which in the embodiment shown comprises a limit switch 24 connected in the electric circuit of the motor 20 and adapted to keep said circuit open when the lever 22 is in engagement with the actuating member 57 of said limit switch. The lever 22 is provided with a manually actuable member 27 which is accessible through an opening 26 in the top of the housing 1 and also serves as discharge opening for the original, as will be further explained below.

A guide member 23 extends from the proximity of the separation roller 19 to the guide element 16 so as to form with the latter a feed channel for the negative layer carriers. Beneath the guide member 13 and adjacent to the rollers 14 a turnstile 33 is mounted for rotation on an axis parallel with those of said rollers 14. Said turnstile has a plurality of radially projecting arms 29, 30, 31, 32 which duringrotation of the turnstile successively extend into the feed channel to form abutments for the negative layer carriers entering said feed channel.

Between the separation roller 19 and the turnstile 33 a feed roller 54 is mounted on the guide member 28 for rotation in the direction indicated by an arrow. Said feed =3 roller 54 has a resilient surface and is disposed at such a distance from the guide member 18 that it normally engages and advances a layer carrier on said guide member 18 and yet does not damage the layer carrier When the same engages one of the arms of the turnstile 33.

A substantially horizontal endless band conveyor is mounted on two rollers 37, 38, the roller 3'7 being disposed above the rollers 14. The endless band is provided on its outer side with a plurality of transverse notches 39 each adapted to receive a positive layer carrier inserted through an opening 40 in the top wall 25 of the housing It and resting with its bottom edge in the notch 39. Normally the rearmost layer carrier (to the left in FIG. 1) will rest against the rear edge 41 of the opening an and the other layer carriers will rest against each other and said rearmost layer carrier in an inclined position, rather than standing upright as shown in the drawing for simplicity of illustration. The guide element 16 extends upwardly in front of the roller 37, as shown, and another guide member 42 is disposed at some distance from said guide element 16 to form with the latter a guide channel leading downwardly towards the developing bath. A gear 34 on the turnstile 33 is in mesh with a gear 35 secured to the shaft of the roller 37. The ratio of the gear means 34, 35 is such that when the turnstile is turned by a negative layer carrier advancing to the rollers 14, the conveyor band 36 is advanced sufficiently to permit a positive layer carrier to drop down and to reach the nip of the rollers 14 substantially simultaneously with the negative layer carrier.

Suitable drive means (not shown) for the various movable parts may be arranged in a separate compartment along one side of the housing 11, as described in the abovementioned parent application Ser. No. 28,336.

FIG. 2 shows the construction of the turnstile 33, only the arm 30 being shown in its entirety. Said arm 30, like the other three arms, carries at its end a pivotally mounted lever 43, capable of pivoting in one direction only. Said lever 43 is connected with the end of the arm by a hinge 44. The arrangement is such that said lever 43 will form an extension of the arm 3t) when said arm is in a horizontal position. This may be achieved by making the part of the lever 43 somewhat heavier than the other part which forms the extension of the arm. The provision of the lever 43 is in the illustrated embodiment of importance, as upon rotating the turnstile each subsequent arm will move into the guide path of the negative layer carrier before said layer carrier has passed out of the way. When the lever 43 contacts the underside of the moving layer carrier, said lever is pivoted and does not occupy its blocking position until the negative layer carrier has moved entirely out of the way. The same effect could, of course, be achieved by means of a weak spring instead of by means of the weight difference.

The apparatus is characterized by a very fiat form, the magazine opening 44 for the positive layer carriers being arranged at the upper sidebehind the outlet opening 26 for the original so that it may easily be observed Whether a sufiicient number of positive layer carriers are stored in the magazine.

It is to be noted that single features and subcombinations are of advantage and may be used without reference to other features and subcombinations. Furthermore changes of details are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. The invention is not restricted to the illustrated and described embodiment.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for producing copies, an exposure device having an inlet and an outlet for an original and a negative layer carrier, a devloping device having an inlet and an outlet for said negative layer carrier and a positive layer carrier, guide means for said negative layer carrier extending from the outlet of said exposure device to the inlet of said developing device, means associated with said guide means for separating said original from said negative layer carrier, movable abutment means on said guide means adjacent to the inlet to the developing device and adapted to be moved by said advancing negative layer carrier, conveyor means for separately supporting a plurality of positive layer carriers, first transmission means drivingly secured to said conveyor means, second transmission means secured to said movable abutment means and coupled with said first transmisison means so that stepwise movement of said abutment means caused by successively advancing negative layer carriers on said guide means causes intermittent movement of said conveyor means and individual discharge of the positive layer carriers therefrom to the inlet of said developing device in coordination with the arrival to said inlet of the negative layer carriers.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which said first and second transmisison means comprise meshing gear means, the gear means connected with said conveyor means having larger diameter than that connected with said movable abutment means.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which said abutment means comprises a turnstile, and circumferentia-lly spaced, radially extending arms on said turnstile adapted to successively project into the path of said negative layer carriers on said guide means.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, including levers pivotally connected with said arms for pivotal movement in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said turnstile, and means for biasing said levers towards a position in which they form extensions of said arms.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which said conveyor means comprises an endless band, rollers over which said endless band is trained so as to have at least one substantially horizontal bight, and transversely extending recesses in the outside of said band for individually receiving the lower edges of said positive layer carriers, whereby one of said positive layer carriers is discharged in each stepwise movement of said endless band.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, including a housing having a top wall, said conveyor means being disposed beneath an opening in said top wall of the housing, so that said positive layer carriers supported on said conveyor means. extend outwardly through said opening and rest against an edge of the opening.

7. In apparatus for producing copies, means for exposing an original on a negative layer carrier, means for developing a positive layer carrier from said negative layer carrier, guide means for said negative layer carrier extending from said exposure means to said developing means, means adjacent to said guide means for separating said original from said negative layer carrier, means between said separating means and said developing means forming a movable abutment means for engagement with the leading edge of said negative layer carrier being advanced on said guide means, movable means adjacent to said developing means for supporting a positive layer carrier sheet in readiness to be supplied to said developing means, and means interconnecting said abutment means and said support means so that each time said abutment means is moved along by the negative layer carrier said support means is moved sufiiciently to cause said positive layer carrier to pass down into said developing means together with said negative layer carrier.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said support means comprises an endless band, at least two rollers over which said endless band is trained so as to make the upper bight of said endless band substantially horizontal, and a plurality of transverse recesses in said endless band to separately receive the lower edges of a plurality of said positive layer carriers to stepwise and successively advance said positive layer carriers to said position of readiness.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,732,778 Limberger Jan. 31, 1956 

7. IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COPIES, MEANS FOR EXPOSING AN ORIGINAL ON A NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER, MEANS FOR DEVELOPING A POSITIVE LAYER CARRIER FROM SAID NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER, GUIDE MEANS FOR SAID NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER EXTENDING FROM SAID EXPOSURE MEANS TO SAID DEVELOPING MEANS, MEANS ADJACENT TO SAID GUIDE MEANS FOR SEPARATING SAID ORIGINAL FROM SAID NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER, MEANS BETWEEN SAID SEPARATING MEANS AND SAID DEVELOPING MEANS FORMING A MOVABLE ABUTMENT MEANS FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH THE LEADING EDGE OF SAID NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER BEING ADVANCED ON SAID GUIDE MEANS, MOVABLE MEANS ADJACENT TO SAID DEVELOPING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING A POSITIVE LAYER CARRIER SHEET IN READINESS TO BE SUPPLIED TO SAID DEVELOPING MEANS, AND MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID ABUTMENT MEANS AND SAID SUPPORT MEANS SO THAT EACH TIME SAID ABUTMENT MEANS IS MOVED ALONG BY THE NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER SAID SUPPORT MEANS IS MOVED SUFFICIENTLY TO CAUSE SAID POSITIVE LAYER CARRIER TO PASS DOWN INTO SAID DEVELOPING MEANS TOGETHER WITH SAID NEGATIVE LAYER CARRIER. 